Glory Days Blog: Revisiting with Virginia Coach Dom Starsia

Welcome back Glory Days Faithful. Its been a fabulous Spring of lots of twists and turns and unexpected happenings. Nothing was more spectacular than watching the UVA Cavaliers capture the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship. As many of you may remember, I had the pleasure of speaking with Coach Dom Starsia last year before the season started. So, as a Glory Days Instant Classic, here's Dom. Enjoy.

Just think about all the talent Dom Starsia has coached in his years. I'm afraid to start listing guys in fear that I'll leave somebody out. Dom‚s record speaks for itself. Take a look at what the UVA Lacrosse website states:

Under Starsia's guidance, his Cavalier squads have won four NCAA titles and reached the Final Four 13 times. He has won more games than any coach in Atlantic Coast Conference and Virginia history. His 329 career wins puts atop the all-time list for wins by a coach at a Division I school. He just passed Jack Emmer, who amassed 326 wins over 36 years at three different Division I school.

He is also one of only three coaches in the history of the sport to win 100-plus games at two different schools. In addition to his 215 UVa wins, he won 101 games at Brown from 1983-92. Jack Emmer won 100-plus games at both Washington & Lee and Army, while Dave Urick topped the century mark at Hobart and Georgetown.

But I'll tell you when Dom made his mark on me. I was on the field at the 2005 semis in Philly when UVA was beating Hopkins and a crazy wind/thunderstorm halted the game. It was like an episode of The Twilight Zone. The game resumed and when all was said and done, Hopkins had stolen the game and two days later won the Championship. Most coaches would have crumbled after a defeat like that, but not Dom. In 2006, UVA bounced back to dominate the college lacrosse world, going undefeated with a 17-0 record, and capturing the championship easily. That's the mark of a true champion. The man, woman, boy or girl who can take it on the chin, get knocked down and come up and battle on. Its inspiring.